Waterborne disease is a significant contributor to the global burden of disease, in particular among high-risk populations in developing nations. State-of-the-art methods for the enumeration of microbial pathogens in drinking water sources have important limitations, including high initial cost, 24-48 hour delays in results, high staffing and facility requirements, and training requirements which all become especially problematic in the developing nation context. A number of alternative approaches to microbial water quality testing have been proposed, with the goal of decreasing the required testing time, decreasing overall costs, leveraging appropriate technology approaches, or improving sensitivity or specificity of the water quality testing method. One approach that may offer solutions to some of these limitations involves the deployment of sensor networks using fluorescent spectroscopy to detect intrinsic protein fluorescence in water samples as a proxy for microbial activity. In recent years, a number of researchers have found significant and meaningful correlations between indicator bacteria species and the protein fluorescence of drinking water samples. Additionally, advances in the semiconductor industry could be used to drive down the cost of such sensors. This technology may also be extensible to other water quality parameters, including dissolved organic matter or the presence of fluorescent pollutants. In this thesis, a literature review describes the fundamentals of fluorescence spectroscopy, historical and recent work regarding the fluorescence of the amino acid tryptophan and associated bacterial fluorescence, possible mechanisms for this association, and potential applications of this technology for drinking water quality monitoring and waste water process control. Extensibility of the technology is also discussed. Next, experimental methodology in reproduction of similar results is described. Samples were taken from seven (7) surface water sources and tested using membrane filtration and an off-the-shelf fluorescence spectrometer to help examine the association between the presence of indicator bacteria and the tryptophan fluorescence of the water sample. The results, showing an association of R2 = 0.560, are compared to the results of recent similar experiments. Finally, two prototypes are described, including their design requirements and data from prototype testing. The results of the testing are briefly discussed, and next steps are outlined with the goal of developing a low-cost, in-situ microbial water quality sensor using fluorescence spectroscopy principles.

<p>U radu se istražuje mogućnost primene metoda i instrumenata kontrolinga u logističkim preduzećima. Utvrđuju se performase kvaliteta logističke usluge, merila i metodologija praćenja. Poseban značajan rezultat je razvijen model za primenu logističkog kontrolinga u industrijskim sistemima. Prikazano je testiranje predloženom modela i na osnovu toga biće izvr&scaron;ena pode&scaron;avanja modela.</p> / <p>This paper examines the possibility of applying mehtods and instruments of controlling in logistics companies. Logistics services quality of performance are being determined, measurements and monitoring mehtodology. Result that is particularly significant is the developed model for implementation of logistics controlling in industrial systems. Testing of the proposed model is displayed and, based on this, the model settings will be performed.</p>

Assessment of the environmental impacts of an agricultural production system requires information on both soil water quality and solute flux. Passive Capillary Samplers (PCAPS), which sample water from the vadose zone using fiber glass wicks, have shown potential to provide both flux and solute concentration in unsaturated zone sampling but have not been tested under long-term, natural, rainfall conditions. The objectives of this study are to (1) evaluate PCAPS operation under non-steady, natural rain and irrigation fed conditions, (2) determine the samplers ability to estimate recharge, and (3) estimate the loss of nutrients resulting from agricultural production. 32 PCAPS and 78 suction cup samplers were installed below the root zone at 16 commercial fields in Lane County, Oregon. PCAPS' were installed in positions using ground penetrating radar such that PCAPS' were placed in homogeneous or concave profile locations. Two PCAPS and six suction cups were installed at each site. Rain gages and TDR probes were installed at eight of the 16 sites. These data were used to develop a mass balance for each of the eight special study sites. Comparison to mass balance data indicates that the PCAPS flux measurements were within 10% of the mass balance estimated recharge. Surface runoff of potential drainage water during periods of high rainfall was a point of concern for estimated recharge discrepancies because runoff was not measured. The saturated hydraulic conductivity was shown to be the most influential design parameter for matching wick and soil types. On the other hand, the incident flux, rather than conductivity, determined the ultimate ground water recharge. PCAPS collection was found to be significantly correlated (average R��=0.75) to the mass balance monthly estimated recharge. To estimate the mean monthly recharge at each site with a 30% bound on the mean and 95% confidence level, 20 PCAPS would be required at each site. PCAPS were found to be superior to suction cup samplers for estimating ground water recharge concentrations because PCAPS were able to sample both flux and resident concentrations. Mint and row crop, organic and inorganic, production systems contributed to the largest adverse environmental impacts with average recharge concentrations for mint and row crop of 24 mg L����� and 28 mg L�����, respectively. Orchard and blueberry production systems had little impact with their seasonal concentrations averaging below the EPA water quality standard. Amounts of percolation were key in determining which management systems were inefficiently operated. Over-irrigation during the summer lead to increased losses of nitrogen for the mint production systems in the summer as well as the winter. Over-fertilization was important for creating significant differences in seasonal mass losses of nitrogen from row crop production systems. Overall, the PCAPS estimated nitrogen loss was 12% lower than that calculated using a simplified nitrogen mass balance approach. Best management practice suggestions concerning irrigation, fertilization and cover cropping were provided as a direct result of the findings of the project. With technical support and increase in concern over nitrate contamination, farmers should be able to control leaching losses without the use of quotas or allotments. / Graduation date: 1995

It is the responsibility of humans, as environmental stewards, to monitor our impact on the environment so that efforts can be made to remediate the effects of our actions and change behaviors. To better understand our environmental footprint, sensitive and simple analytical methods are needed to quantify the contaminants that we discharge into our natural surroundings. Emerging environmental contaminants are of particular concern because there is limited or no information available on their occurrence, fate, and toxicity. As a result, the implications of using these chemicals are not well understood. Therefore, accurate environmental data are needed to help scientists and government policy-makers make informed decisions on research directions and chemical regulation. However, challenges exist for the analysis of emerging contaminants, including a lack of suitable analytical standards and internal standards, their broad range of chemical properties, and that they are frequently present at trace levels and in complex environmental matrices. The work presented within this dissertation focuses on the development, validation, and comparison of analytical methodologies based on large-volume injection high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) for the analysis of emerging environmental contaminants in aqueous environmental matrices. Large-volume injection (e.g. 900 μL to 4,500 μL) is an analytical technique that eliminates sample preparation associated with pre-concentration by injecting larger-than-traditional volumes of sample directly onto a HPLC column. In Chapter 2, a direct aqueous large-volume injection method was developed and validated for the quantification of natural and synthetic androgenic steroids in wastewater influent, wastewater effluent, and river water. This method was then applied to hourly composite samples of wastewater influent that were taken over the course of a single day. This work expands on the research of the endocrine-disrupting chemicals that occur in wastewater and provides an estimate of the community use/abuse of synthetic androgenic steroids. Environmental analytical methods should be as environmentally friendly as possible and efforts should be made to reduce the waste generated during analysis while maintaining analytical performance. In Chapter 3, a method based on large-volume injection was compared to two methods based on solid-phase extraction. The purpose of this comparison was to demonstrate that the same method performance could be achieved by large-volume injection as that by solid-phase extraction while reducing waste, labor, and costs. Estrogens and perfluorinated chemicals were used as model analytes and wastewater influent was used as a model matrix. The results of this study provide convincing reasons for analysts to adopt large-volume injection as an alternative to solid-phase extraction. In Chapter 4, a novel analytical method was developed and validated to quantify newly-identified and legacy fluorinated chemicals in groundwater. The final method combined micro liquid-liquid extraction, non-aqueous large-volume injection, and orthogonal chromatographic separations. Ground water samples collected from six different U.S. military bases was used to demonstrate the method. This is the first report on the occurrence of these newly-identified fluorinated chemicals in any environmental media and serves as a rational for conducting future research on their environmental fate and toxicity. The breadth of the research presented in this dissertation advances the field of environmental analytical chemistry in several areas. First, classes of environmental contaminants for which there is limited (synthetic androgenic steroids) or no (newly-identified fluorochemicals) environmental data were studied. Second, novel methods based on direct-aqueous and non-aqueous large-volume injection were developed and validated to identify and quantify those contaminants. Third, it was demonstrated that solid-phase extraction is not a "necessary evil" needed to develop methods for emerging environmental contaminants in aqueous matrices. Finally, this work is a platform on which other environmental chemists can use to develop large-volume injection methods in the future. / Graduation date: 2013 / Access restricted to the OSU Community at author's request from Aug. 2, 2012 - Feb. 2, 2013

The main objectives of this study are to demonstrate the significance of customer service quality in the banking sector of Cyprus in order to enable managers in banking organisations to identify the determinants of customer perceptions of service quality and ultimately to provide a method to measure the levels of service quality offered. Therefore, the objectives of this thesis are: • To evaluate the SERVQUAL model and assess whether it can be applied in the context of the Cypriot banking industry, and consequently establish a reliable and valid service quality measurement instrument for Cypriot banks, and • To identify the level of service from banks in Cyprus and detect ways to improve the service quality offered. This study evaluates SERVQUAL dimensions, and more specifically the perceptions side of the instrument, and modifies it through an extensive and in-depth analysis of the literature review published on the topic of service quality and through interviews with bank experts and quality specialists so as to assess its applicability to the banking industry in Cyprus. As a result of this analysis, a modified version of the perceptions’ side of SERVQUAL was constructed as a measurement scale of service quality in the banking sector of Cyprus. Data were collected through customer surveys conducted outside bank branches. Subsequently, the collected data were analysed through tools such as factor analysis, multiple regression analysis, and internal consistency measurement. This analysis helped to prove the validity and reliability of the modified instrument used to measure service quality and revealed the dimensional structure of the service quality construct in the Cypriot banking sector. The major findings of this study suggest a four-dimensional construct derived from 23 items in the questionnaire. These dimensions are employee proficiency, convenience, professionalism and assurance. All four factors are positive and significant predictors of service quality. This result is different from the SERVQUAL and the SERVPERF models as both indicate five dimensions composed of 22 items. The reliability and validity of the scale(s) in this study were fully supported. These results lead to several implications for both researchers and practitioners. For theorists, the results of this study can be used as foundations for further studies, for questionnaire scale development, to further support the use of a single scale and to raise the issue of the non-existence of the ‘tangibles’ dimension, which is not fully discussed in the literature and should be tested in future studies as well. For managers and practitioners this study offers much support for the importance of employees and for a continuous investment in service quality programmes. It also suggests incorporating service quality measurement into branch performance measurement. Finally, the results obtained in this study pose significant challenges to managers and support the idea that practitioners should have a comprehensive view of service quality in banking organizations to accurately measure customer perceptions of service quality.

Thesis (MTech. degree in Environmental management.)-Tshwane University of Technology, 2008. / Aims to generate information on the quality of water from boreholes and the Steelpoort river in order to ascertain the level of pollution within the vicinity of Vantech mine. The information is envisaged to help a better water management within the area. The following objectives were pursued: to measure water quality parameters ; to investigate the extent of the pollution plume movement ; to study the composition and geological factors in the area in relation to mobility of groundwater and to determine the impacts of Geo hydrological characteristics.

<p>Marketing researchers have long relied on customer perceptions of service encounters to represent the "true" underlying quality. Researchers and practitioners in healthcare, on the other hand, have long dismissed customer perceptions as a credible measure of service quality. We built a quality framework designed to address this fundamental question: are customer perceptions of service encounters unique, redundant, or wholly flawed measures of actual service quality?</p><p>We consistently show customer perspectives reflect a measure of service quality that is both unique from, and complimentary to, the competence with which a service is provided. In fact, we found the explanatory power of either single dimension of process care is completely dependent on the state of the other as they relate to service encounter outcomes. This latter finding may require both management and policy makers to rethink how they approach managing and incenting a balanced approach to investments in improving process care dimensions.</p><p>Our research also provides evidence of factors both within, and indirectly outside, the control of management in improving healthcare service quality. In addition, government administrators face a particularly challenging roll in the system; their own policies - whether too punitive or too generous - have the potential to institutionalize lower quality healthcare for the very populations they are most trying to protect.</p> / Dissertation

Globally, water turbidity remains a crucial parameter in determining water quality. South Africa is largely regarded as arid and is often characterised by limited but high intensity rainfall. This characteristic renders most of the country’s water bodies turbid. Consequently, the use of turbidity as a measure of water quality is of great relevance in a South African context. Generally, turbidity alters biological and ecological characteristics of water bodies by inducing changes in among others temperature, oxygen levels and light penetration. These changes may affect aquatic life, ecosystem functioning and available water for industrial and domestic use. Siltation, a direct function of turbidity also impacts on the physical storage of dams and shortens their useful life. To date, determination of water turbidity relies on the tradition laboratory based methods that are often time consuming, expensive and labour intensive. This has increased the need for more cost effective means of determining water turbidity. In the recent past, the use of remote sensing techniques has emerged as a viable option in water quality assessment. Hyperspectral remote sensing characterizes numerous contiguous narrow bands that have great potential in water turbidity measurement. This study explored the applicability of hyperspectral data in water turbidity detection. It explored the visible and near-infrared region to select the optimal bands and indices for turbidity measurement. Using the Analytical Spectral Device (ASD) field spectroradiometer and a 2100Q portable turbidimeter, spectral reflectance and laboratory based turbidity measurements were taken from prepared turbid solutions of predetermined concentrations (i.e. 10g/l to 150g/l), respectively. The Pearson’s coefficient of correlation and R2 values were employed to select optimal spectral bands and indices. The findings showed a positive linear relationship between reflectance, the amount of soil in water and turbidity values. The strongest relationships came from bands 528, 489, 657, 1000 and 983, reporting adjusted R2 values of 0.7062, 0.7004, 0.6864, 0.7120 and 0.6961, respectively. The highest coefficient came from band 1000nm. The strongest indices were 625/440 and (770-1000)/(770+1000), with adjusted R2 values of 0.6822 and 0.6973 respectively. The use of hyperspectral data in turbidity detection is ideal for optimal band interrogation. Although good results were generated from this study, further investigations are needed in the near-infrared region. / Thesis (M.Env.Dev.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2013.

A water quality study was conducted on Big Duck Creek and Little Duck Creek near Elwood, Indiana during the summer, autumn and winter of 1978 - 1979 and compared to measurements made in 1938.Samples were analyzed for dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand, suspended solids, ammonia, total coliform bacteria, hydrogen ion concentration and temperature. Significant differences in concentrations were observed for each environmental parameter measured in 1979 when evaluated on a basis of sampling location. With the exception of dissolved oxygen concentrations, the effect of stream volume on the concentration of environmental parameters was in most instances small.When the up and downstream stations were compared, a definite decrease in water quality was noted. The dissolved oxygen concentrations decreased as the water flowed through the city. Due to increased organic loading, the biochemical oxygen demand increased in the downstream area.Elwood increased the suspended solids level of Big Duck Creek. Agricultural and urban runoff together with untreated sewage discharges significantly increased the suspended solids level within the inner city region. Dilution by treated sewage as well as cleaner water from Little Duck Creek help reduce the suspended solids level in the downstream location. Relatively high ammonia concentrations were observed in the upstream portions of the creeks. This was apparently related to farm practices. The higher readings of ammonia were noted after animal manure was spread on the fields along the stream. The downstream levels were also high. This was probably due to ammonia in the effluents of the sewage treatment plant. In contrast, only small changes in the hydrogen ion concentration was observed throughout the creek.The number of total coliform bacteria increased in the center of town because of a sewer bypass into the creek. Below Elwood the concentration of bacteria decreased due to dilution with disinfected effluents from the sewage treatment plant.Except for a noticeable increase in biochemical oxygen demand and ammonia, the Elwood sewage treatment plant effluent together with flow from Little Duck Creek appears to improve Big Duck Creek's condition as it leaves the city to join White River.Significant differences were observed between measurements made in 1938 and 1978 - 79. Results of the study showed a significant improvement in water quality of Big Duck Creek since 1938. This was probably due to the construction of Elwood's wastewater collection system and sewage treatment plant in the 1940s.However, there was still degradation of water quality within the city due to untreated wastewater discharges. Consequently, emphasis should be focused on the inner city problem since Elwood residents would be in the proximity to this area. / Department of Natural Resources

In today's worldwide competitive environment, contracting companies are competing in terms of product quality, delivery, reliability and customer satisfaction. In current literature, models of performance measures for contracting companies and construction projects have limitations and shortcomings. They depend mainly on financial measures. These are no longer sufficient to ensure survival and continued profitability in time of change. New measures of performance at the different levels of contracting companies are, therefore, needed. The relatively new performance measurement technique of benchmarking has been widely applied as a powerful performance management concept. However, current published literature does not provide satisfactory proof of its successful implementation in contracting companies. This research addresses these two major weaknesses. Firstly, a methodology using Nominal Group Technique and Delphi Technique was explained and applied to obtain consensus performance measures for construction projects. New performance measures appropriate to construction projects, together with each element's relative importance, were developed. The consensus covers project managers, senior managers and top management. Secondly, quality measures appropriate to construction projects, together with each measure's relative importance, were developed. Thirdly, new performance measures appropriate to contracting organizations were developed. The development of these measures and the determination of their relative importance depend upon: the strategic direction of the organization which reflects the current business and market conditions; the type of construction work; the organization structure; and the development of the management staff within the organization. Fourthly, the implementation of the new performance measures using benchmarking as a management tool for performance measurement and improvement was carried out in one of the largest contracting organizations in the Middle East, the Arab Contractors, Osman A. Osman & Co. The implementation was carried out over a period of five years. Sixteen company branches implemented the measurement system. Each branch was considered as an independent contracting company. The results showed that the use of the new performance measures and the implementation of benchmarking in the company were very effective and led to successful and improved performance.